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Notes -
I kinda get where that piece is coming from, but I think it kind of fails simply because it doesn’t deal with the difficulty of working with iron. It would be like saying “okay, silicon is as common as sand, therefore we can decentralize information because all you need to do to get silicon and therefore computer chips is to go to a beach and start digging. Not really. You have the raw material, but unless you have the skills and and technology necessary to work with that material, you aren’t really going to get anywhere close to equality with those with the ability to use iron.
I personally think a large part of the collapsing states was simply rot. The leadership hadn’t really developed much beyond where they were hundreds of years ago, the people, used to being a part of an empire were less industrious and self controlled and often dependent on luxuries from abroad rather than local stuff. So social vices proliferate, industry and innovation decline, and sooner or later someone comes along and topples the old order simply because the foundations had been eaten away.
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